April 23, 2013

Lush Australia

Part two of my Lush review can be foundhere.Part three of my Lush review can be found here.

I should start this entry by thanking two people: Neil and Rina.

Lush Australia has always been one of those franchises at the back of my mind. I live near one of the their shops in Garden City, and it's impossible to miss the strong scents if or when you are within vicinity of their shops. They are famous for their soaps, often using minimal packaging and using natural ingredients with little to no synthetics.

Their motto seems simple enough: hand-making their many products using only fresh and organic produce. They don't test on animals, support the environment, all the stuff that makes you feel better about yourself and your carbon footprint when you buy their products.

I once tried their henna colour for hair dyeing, and let's just say I never went back to Lush again.

Two weeks ago, after some discussion and extensive online research, I went back to Lush:

After a while of exploring and asking questions, I emerged with these three products, one for my skin, and the remaining two for my hair.

I have sensitive skin, which means I sunburn easily in a place like Perth where the sun seems to live on your doorstep. I also have eczema, which means I am highly irritable to many allergens like pollen, dust, metals and especially heat or humidity, resulting in itchy or dry patches. Boo.

The very lovely store assistant helped me to sample this while I was in Lush Booragoon, and at first I was apprehensive about the scent it left behind, a scent of calamine and medicine. However, it was promised to be non-foaming, non-drying, and guaranteed to sooth my skin irritations or sunburns.

As you can tell, it resembles a soft clay, and is a lovely pastel pink shade of calamine! It was delightful to scoop out and smooth over my skin in the shower, (true to its promise, it was non-foaming) and when dried my skin was powdery smooth. It was almost like there was a hint of calamine powder left on my skin after my shower. My skin did feel tight after using this, but it did not feel dry - I suspect it's the clay that was firming up my skin.

It does soothe my skin, especially after I have been in the sun all day and calms down any redness or itching I had, especially after my gym sessions, making it very easy to love.

So thanks, Neil!

For my scalp, I got this beauty:

My hair is waist length, dyed too many times and constantly tangled. I have an oily scalp, and the icing on that is my hair texture is thin and limp. Sounds like an impossible mission for any hair product or hairdresser.

It is necessary to know that any problem you have with your hair, you must first rectify with your scalp. Which is why I got Roots Hair Treatment, mainly because I have a high attraction to products with mint in it. Mint in any hair product is always a plus in my opinion, but I had to be cautious to not over stimulate my scalp, at risk of it becoming even more grimey.

It has a texture of hair cream, and as soon as you open the tub you will be able to smell the mint! I was advised to apply it to my roots and massage it in for about 15 minutes - which I was again was apprehensive about, since putting any products in my oily scalp never resulted in anything positive for me. I was always told not to put any conditioning or hair treatments anywhere near my roots as it will only clog up my scalp, weighing down my hair and making it generally unattractive.

I persevered, and spread some of the stuff on my fingertips, giving myself a good scalp massage.

It felt absolutely refreshing, the mint getting to work as you massage it in; giving my scalp some crazy tingles. I enjoyed it so much I probably massaged it for more than 15 minutes. Washing it off is easy, it left no residue behind after some shampoo and after two weeks of using this product my scalp is less prone to greasiness, and there is a little more lift at my roots.

Thanks, Rina!

After washing Roots off, i immediately used Veganese Hair Conditioner, which I picked because it targeted tangled and fine hair. I also favoured the scent it had, of lemons and lavender. It also promised seaweed gel to soften and detangle hair, and was friendly to thin/fine hair, meaning it would not be heavy or oily.

Thanks again, Neil!

This conditioner is insane! I had no heaviness left in my hair or my scalp after using it, which is a common occurrence for me after using conditioners. The texture was a lot less creamy than regular conditioners, which means it spreads over my hair easily and washes out easily as well.

Most importantly, I also found my hair much easier to comb out, whether it was wet or dry! I always let my hair dry naturally, and often I find it still tangled when it eventually dries - which is frustrating to me after I spend good money on conditioners. So it was absolutely delightful to find my hair so much easier to comb after I used Veganese.

It also left a beautiful scent of lemons in my hair, and my hair is also not as limp as it was before. I've also found that my hair has developed a shine to it, making it look much more alive, yet not greasy.

It's safe to say I am very pleased with my buys from Lush, and hopefully this also means the end of my Love-Hate relationship with commercial hair and body products! Also, if you buy Lush products, they tend to give you little samples so be sure to let the staff know what you are interested to try out. (and bring back five tubs/bottles, you get a free face mask and Lush reuses their packaging!)